Glenview uses home rule to reverse county housing ordinance

Village landlords can choose whether to accept housing vouchers

August 13, 2013|By Alexandra Chachkevitch, Tribune Reporter

Chicago residents Debra Miller, 61, and her husband James Miller, 54, who is a Section 8 voucher holder, say they hope to move to the northern suburbs of Chicago one day. (Alexandra Chachkevitch, Chicago Tribune)

Glenview trustees recently passed a housing policy that reverses a change to a county ordinance that aimed to protect Section 8 voucher holders from discrimination.

Advocates for the recent county amendment say the village misinterpreted the purpose of the changes, but Glenview officials maintain that they wanted to exercise their home-rule right to keep rules the way they were before — and get local public input.

The Cook County Board voted 9-6 on May 8 to amend county's human rights ordinance, adding housing vouchers to the list of factors landlords cannot consider when screening potential tenants. The changes to the county ordinance took effect last week and would affect unincorporated areas and municipalities within the county that don't have their own fair housing ordinance, according to Glenview Attorney Eric Patt.

On Aug. 6, Glenview exercised its home-rule power to pass its own ordinance.

Our "ordinance doesn't prohibit the use of Section 8 vouchers, but rather restores the rights of landowners choice as to whether to participate in such programs," Patt said.

Four village trustees supported the local law while two others voted against it. The same majority of trustees also voted to adopt the ordinance upon the first reading in order for it to take effect before the amendment became effective last week.

Trustee Deborah Karton said she's concerned when any other governmental units change rules that affect the Village of Glenview.

"I don't know that we've had an outpouring of people calling us wanting this change," Karton said at the meeting. "I would feel much more comfortable going back to the status quo and reviewing it in six months."

Karton said she believes it's important for the village to get input from Glenview's residents, renters and landowners on this issue, not just simply comply with the county.

Trustees Michael Jenny, John Hinkamp and Paul Detlefs agreed with Karton's comments while two trustees, Philip White and Scott Britton, disagreed with the rest of the board.

"I'm not sure I understand why we should not go along with the county," White said at the meeting. "... I'm not sure why the county did what it did."

He said he also didn't like adopting the ordinance right away.

"I just think this is probably worthy of a little bit more of public discussion than what we had," White said.

Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, whose district covers most of the North Shore, including a part of Glenview, said he believes the Village of Glenview misinterpreted what the amendment does.

Suffredin, who co-sponsored the county amendment, said he has worked on the measure for about 10 years.

"We are not requiring the landlords to absolutely rent to someone who has a Section 8 voucher," Suffredin said.

Before the Cook County change, tenants were already protected from discrimination on the basis of a person's source of income, such as child support and social security. With the amendment, housing choice vouchers are also included in that list.

Chicago has had similar protections in place for some time, Suffredin said. Landlords can still rule out unwanted tenants based on other screening factors, such as bad credit history.

"I think there is less discrimination out there these days," Suffredin said. "But there is still discrimination, and that's why we need these rules."

Suffredin said he respects Glenview's decision to pass its own rules.

He added that in comparison to suburbs such as Skokie and Evanston, the demand for Section 8 housing is not as great.

In Glenview, there are about 140 Section 8 voucher holders, according to numbers provided by the Housing Authority of Cook County. As of May, in Skokie, the number of voucher holders is about 404, said Jon Duncan, senior council with the housing authority.

Brendan Saunders, director of advocacy and community organizing for the Winnetka-based Open Communities, which advocated for the county amendment, was surprised by Glenview's new ordinance and also emphasized that no one is forcing landlords to enroll in the Section 8 program if they don't want to.

"I think this has been a total misinterpretation between municipalities," Saunders said, expressing his frustration over Glenview's new ordinance. "... Don't charge a person a triple security deposit just because they have a voucher — that's the kind of stuff we're trying to prevent with this."

When James Miller, 54, a U.S. Navy veteran, finally got his Section 8 voucher last year, he and his wife Debra Miller, 61, wanted to move to a north suburb like Glenview, Skokie or Evanston after months of financial struggling and homelessness. But the couple was told by several nonprofit organizations not to even try the suburbs because of how hard it was to qualify for a place there, Debra Miller said.

Miller, who readily admits her family's credit score isn't in good shape, said the two had to go through about 40 different places in Chicago before they were able to move into their current apartment in the Edgewater neighborhood.

But Miller, a former Downers Grove resident who was laid off during the recession, said she still has hopes to move to the suburbs one day with her husband.

That's why when the passage of the county amendment in May interested the Millers.

"It felt fantastic," said Miller, who advocated for the county ordinance as a member of Chicago-based Metropolitan Tenants Association. "It was something that needed to be done."

She said she views Glenview's decision to pass its own fair housing ordinance as a set back.

"I think it's a shame," she said. "People profile Section 8 holders, and some are not giving people a chance."